A Blessing or a Curse?
by Jackal
Summary: An A/U B/V fiction. An accident in Bulma's lab results in some unexpected consequences. Bulma must decide if the results are good...or bad.
1. Accidents Happen

Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and all related characters do not belong to me. This is a work of fan fiction - no profit, so no sue please!  
  
Chapter 1: Accidents Happen  
  
Bulma Briefs, young, brilliant, and (in her own words) gorgeous inventor, smiled in satisfaction at her most recent creation. In appearance it was a hollow glass tube over 2 meters high and nearly that in diameter. There was a hinged door in the side, and it sat on a heavy metal base that another three quarters of a meter to the overall height of the thing. Keypads adorned the base, as well a prominent one beside the door. The inside was bare except for a breathing mask.  
  
It was a regeneration tank modeled after Goku and Vegeta's descriptions of the ones used by Frieza's army. Over six months of work had gone into it. The actual tank had been the easy part; the difficulty lay in the regenerative fluid needed to speed healing. As of yet Bulma had been unable to create one that was as universal as the ones that Vegeta was familiar with. What she had created were two different fluids, one for those of saiyan blood and one for pure humans. The former was completed, the latter still needed work. While the one for humans in general would be more useful (Bulma anticipated an excellent response from hospitals) the one for saiyans would at least be useful for Goku, Vegeta, and the half bred young Gohan.  
  
It would especially be useful for Capsule Corp's abrasive saiyan houseguest, renowned for training himself into insensibility.  
  
She closed the door of the tube and pressed a red button on the key panel. Hssst. The edges of the door sealed watertight. Another button push and the tank began to hum. Several soft bluish-green lights came on in the interior, and with a whoosh the clear regenerative fluid began to fill the tank. In exactly 5.001 seconds (by Bulma's stopwatch) it had filled entirely. Well, maybe not entirely. She grabbed a ruler and a ladder and climbed up to the top of the tank. Leaning precariously over the side, she measure the distance from the surface of the liquid to the top of the tank. 2.5 centimeters. Perfect, she could top the tank with -  
  
Overbalanced by Bulma's leaning, the ladder rocked sharply. With a startled cry she was pitched forward into the tank, striking her head on the side. Senselessly she tumbled in and rapidly sank to the bottom. If she'd been conscious she would have noted the need to make the fluid slightly more buoyant to support the weight of the occupant...  
  
A few bubbles escaped her lips and her lungs began to fill. Ironically, without the breathing mask, the liquid she had designed to heal was drowning her.  
  
It was after hours in Capsule Corp. All employees had left, and Bulma's parents were away on business. The buildings were almost empty.  
  
Key word: almost.  
  
Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince, strode through the empty halls, his boots making no sound despite the metal floors. Looking neither right nor left he went directly to Bulma's laboratory and threw open the door.  
  
"Woman, the gravity room has become insufficient to..." he trailed off at the sight before him. His onyx eyes took in the ladder, tumbled on its side, and he immediately guessed what had occurred. Less than three seconds after entering the room he raised one hand palm outwards and blasted the tank. The fluid cascaded over the room as the glass shattered. Ignoring the mess he crossed the room and picked Bulma up. Another energy blast cleared off one of her cluttered worktables, and he lay her down upon it.  
  
Years before Radditz had nearly drowned on a planet he, Nappa, and Vegeta had been purging under Frieza's orders. Nappa had revived him, and now the Saiyan Prince recalled what the larger man had done. Turning Bulma onto her stomach, he firmly pressed down and forward on her back. A huge amount of water fluid gushed out of her mouth. He repeated the process several times, each time resulting in less and less water, until finally she coughed, gasped, and began to breathe again.  
  
Vegeta was tempted to leave then. However, if he did and she died from his neglect Kakkarot would surely kill him. Death didn't frighten the Saiyan Prince (having already gone through it once) but death at the hands of a third class clown before achieving his goal of super saiyan was intolerable! Cursing under his breath he picked the semiconscious woman up off the worktable. She turned her large blue eyes on him, a foreign expression in them.  
  
"Need...get warm," she whispered, "Danger if...damp gets in...lungs."  
  
Half drowned and she still had the sense to know the appropriate treatment for her condition? Vegeta shook his head. Much as she annoyed him, she also never ceased to amaze him. He left the lab and brought her to her room. She tried to stand on her own, but was still too shaky.  
  
"Dammit," the warrior picked her up again and brought her into the bathroom attached to her suite. "Don't take this the wrong way, woman. I have no interest in your ugly human body." Ignoring her outraged look he proceeded to strip her of her soaked clothing. Her face and quite a bit below that turned scarlet, but Vegeta was brisk and objective about it as a doctor. He located a towel and wrapped it around her, drying her off with clinical detachment. He then stalked back into her room and located a warm pair of sweatpants and a long shirt in her bureau.  
  
"I can dress myself," Bulma said indignantly when he returned. She tried to stand again and nearly fell. Vegeta caught her quickly and gave a snort of derision.  
  
"I don't think so, woman." Brusquely he helped her into her clothing and once again picked her up. He placed her into her bed and tossed the blankets over her.  
  
Finally, finally he could leave! He turned to go but froze when he felt a small hand touch his arm.  
  
"What?" he demanded, not looking at her.  
  
"Thank you...Prince Vegeta." The saiyan turned his head sharply to look at her. She never addressed him by his proper title! But she had already closed her eyes and snuggled down under the blankets.  
  
"Idiot woman," he mumbled, and left the room. The memory of her nude body, of the scent of her hair when he'd held her close, chose that moment to intrude upon his thoughts. Cursing his body and its one-track mentality, he turned into his own room. Now he'd need a cold shower.... 


	2. Something Strange is Going On

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of the related characters. This is fanfiction - no profit, no sue, please.  
  
Part Two: Something Strange is Going On  
  
Bulma slowly sat up in her bed. Her head hurt. Most of her body hurt, for that matter. Not surprising, considering the trauma it had gone through less than 24 hours ago. If it hadn't been for Vegeta...she shuddered slightly. Did drowning count as a natural death? Would they have been able to bring her back with the dragonballs? She was glad she hadn't had to find out. Slowly she got out of bed, found some socks, and padded downstairs. It was after noon, but his royal pain in the ass hadn't woken her up early demanding food like usual. Had he actually let her sleep in? If she didn't know better, she might have thought he was softening a little.  
  
Then she saw the mess he'd left in the kitchen in the process of fixing his own breakfast. On second thought...  
  
Bulma couldn't deal with the dish disaster yet. She located the pain relievers and the orange juice and retreated to the living room with them. Sitting on the couch and waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in, she contemplated yesterday's events. He'd saved her life, that was certain. He'd also blasted the tank, which set her back almost a month in her work. She was torn between wanting to thank him and wanting to yell at him. Eventually the thanking part won out. He really hadn't had to take such good care of her like he had. So how could she thank him? He'd sneer at her if she tried anything too overt. She'd pushed her luck last night, but it had seemed appropriate at the time. After all, it was the first time he'd really acted, in her opinion, remotely like a prince.  
  
The humming of the gravity room gave her an idea. She knew damn well why he had been in her lab in the first place. Why not upgrade his GR while she waited for the parts to rebuild the regeneration tank? Smiling slightly she stumbled back upstairs and disappeared into the shower for a luxurious 45 minutes. Her skin required scrubbing, as it was still sticky with the healing fluid. Scowling as she scrubbed, she made a mental note to alter the composition so it slid off the skin once it hit the air.  
  
The painkillers eventually began to take effect, much to her relief. Good thing, too, since after the shower she had to deal with the mess in the kitchen and in her lab. By the end of the day she was tired, dirty, and very hungry. It had taken her almost seven solid hours to get both messes cleaned, the majority of that time spent on the lab. Bulma stormed back into the main house and began to cook dinner. She wasn't an expert, but she could whip up decent potatoes and eggs. Plus it was easy to make a lot of, always an important factor when you had a saiyan to feed.  
  
As if on cue a bruised and bloody Vegeta stalked into the kitchen. Observing Bulma hard at work, he smirked and leaned against the wall.  
  
"About time you learned your place, woman,"  
  
"If you want any of this, you'll shut your mouth right now." She didn't even bother to turn around. He snorted, but before things escalated she slid a steaming platter of food over to his side of the table. Not even Vegeta could forsake food for argument - he sat down and dug in. Unlike Goku, at least, he used a fork. Bulma smirked a little herself, hearing no complaints about the food. If he didn't complain with the first bite, she'd learned, he pretty much liked it. Of course, once he satisfied his first rush of hunger, he would -  
  
"When is that empty headed mother of yours returning, woman? At least she can cook up a meal worthy of consumption."  
  
"Five more days," she replied, ignoring the jab, and sat down with her own plate of food. Bulma found she was unaccountably hungry tonight. She went through several plates of food in rapid succession. As she was getting up to refill her plate for the fourth or fifth time (even with the huge amount she'd served Vegeta there was still at least as much left on the stove) she noticed the saiyan prince staring at her rather oddly. "What's the matter? Did you want some more?"  
  
"Since when do you eat so much, woman?" he asked with almost (for him) curiosity. "Wouldn't want to spoil that girlish figure, would you?" he added mockingly.  
  
"Are you calling me fat?" she demanded in a tone that would have sent Gohan and Krillin running for cover. Vegeta simply smirked at her. "I'm too hungry to argue with you," Bulma snapped when he didn't respond. She split the remainder of the food and passed him half before devouring hers at a pace that would have put Goku to shame. He continued to watch her silently, which annoyed her so much that the moment she finished she stormed upstairs without even a parting insult for the evening. Vegeta finished his own food in silence, a thoughtful look on his face. He'd never seen a full human eat quite that much in one sitting, let alone one like Bulma, who usually ate like a bird. Strange...he shrugged mentally. He needed to yell at her about upgrading the GR, not wonder about her eating habits!  
  
Upstairs Bulma took her second shower of the day. She was fuming. How dare that arrogant tail-less bastard comment on how much she did or did not eat? Especially when he consumed at least his weight in food every day! She was damn near tempted not to upgrade the GR....but she did owe him rather big....  
  
"Damn!" She smacked the wall of the shower. "Annoying creep!" Shampoo ran into her eyes, causing another round of cursing. Half blinded, she finished up and stepped out of the stall, fumbling for a towel. Because of this, she didn't notice the fine cracks in the tile where her hand had struck.  
  
Bulma had just finished dressing when the aches that had plagued her in the morning suddenly returned with a vengeance. She swayed slightly on her feet and plopped down on the edge of her bed. Whimpering a little under her breath, she crawled under the blankets. Setting her alarm so she wouldn't oversleep, the blue haired beauty fell quickly into a deep slumber.  
  
Vegeta was preparing to return to the GR for more training when his sensitive saiyan ears caught the sound of her whimper.  
  
Should check to see if she's alright.  
  
He blinked in surprise at the quiet whisper from somewhere in the back of his mind. He was the Saiyan Prince, not a babysitter for a stupid ugly earth woman!  
  
Didn't think she was that ugly last night, did you?  
  
Vegeta cursed his subconscious roundly and stormed out the door. He really needed to train! 


	3. Realizations

Thank you very much to all the people who reviewed. This is my first fic, so I appreciate the support and constructive criticism.  
  
Disclaimer: No own, no profit, broke anyway, don't sue  
  
Chapter 3: Realizations  
  
RING!!!  
  
Bulma slammed her hand down on the annoying alarm clock, half awake and vaguely satisfied by the way it crunched under her blow. Blearily she got up and dressed, stumbling downstairs to the kitchen. It was extremely early for her to be awake, but she had to get to the gravity room before Vegeta started his morning training. He might want it upgraded, but she was willing to bet that he didn't realize that would involve shutting it down for awhile. Cautiously she peeked into his bedroom. Much to her amusement he was asleep on his back, mouth wide open. She tiptoed into the room. Yeah, he was really out cold. He hadn't even changed out of his training clothes before collapsing on top of the covers. The corner of her mouth lifted in a smile. Without the perpetual smirk on his face, he was actually...surprisingly cute. Not to mention he had one of the best looking bodies she'd ever seen...Bulma blushed at her thoughts and snuck back out of the room. This was Vegeta she was thinking about! Being sexy didn't prelude his being an arrogant pain in the ass!  
  
Since when was he sexy? She shook her head as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. Obviously being single again was making her insane. After permanently breaking it off with Yamcha several months ago, she'd pretty much been dateless. Sighing, Bulma ate her way through the box of cereal, finished off half a loaf of toast, and washed it all down with nearly the entire carton of orange juice. A little more awake by now, she looked at the remains of her breakfast in puzzlement. What on earth had possessed her to eat so much? But she was even still a little hungry. Maybe she was pms-ing. She located her toolbox and left the building. Outside she crossed the lawn to the GR and opened a large panel on the side.  
  
"Now let me see..."  
  
It was perhaps an hour or two later when Vegeta appeared outside. He stared at the sight before him in something very close to dismay. The woman was seated on the grass beside the gravity room, parts and pieces of the main gravity generator strewn about. On her lap was a circuit board she was painstakingly rewiring. Before he could say anything she picked her head up and smiled at him.  
  
"Morning Vegeta. There's cereal if you're hungry, but I'm a little too busy to cook anything for breakfast."  
  
"Woman," he growled, moving over to where she sat, "what are you doing to my gravity machine?"  
  
"Your gravity machine? Since when?" she sniffed. "And for your information, I'm upgrading it. That was what you were invading my lab to yell about the other day, wasn't it? Unfortunately for you, upgrading it means shutting it down for a bit."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Do you want it upgraded or not?" Bulma stood up and glared at him. "It'll be able to go up to 450x gravity when I'm done. Isn't that worth a day or two of finding somewhere else to train?" Her eyes flashed dangerously, daring him to argue. She could see him weighing the two in his mind. Finally he gave an exasperated snort.  
  
"Fine, woman!" He lifted into the air. "But you'd better be finished by the time I return!" With that parting shot he flew rapidly out of sight. Probably going to drag Goku into an all day sparring session.  
  
"Prick!" yelled Bulma after him. "Ungrateful saiyan bastard!" Of course he couldn't hear her, being miles away already, but it made her feel better. Actually she wasn't too put out by his rudeness, since with him gone for the day she could get a lot of work done on the GR. Unfortunately however, the aches and pains which had been plaguing her recently chose that moment to kick up again. Bulma gritted her teeth and continued her work, but she was still slowed down by her discomfort. Hours later (given a break for lunch) she was only barely half done with the upgrade and she really felt terrible. She leaned against the GR, beginning to wonder if something was really wrong. Maybe she wasn't fully recovered from almost drowning in the...her eyes narrowed...in the saiyan regenerative fluid. She'd never tested its effects on human physiology...  
  
"Slacking off, woman?" inquired an all too familiar voice. Bulma raised her head and glared at the smug prince.  
  
"Are you back already? What happened, did Goku kick your ass so hard you came running back here?" He snorted.  
  
"Hardly. Kakkarot begged off after a mere eight hours of sparring. Something about having to train his brat. Pathetic excuse for a saiyan."  
  
"What, true saiyans don't train their own children?" Bulma collected her tools.  
  
"True saiyans," he mocked her inflection, "do not slack off on their own training to train their brats. And why is the gravity chamber not yet reassembled?"  
  
"Because I haven't finished yet," she replied calmly, knowing that such statement of the obvious would annoy him. She was right. He clenched his fists and growled,  
  
"Woman..."  
  
The toolbox fell from her hands with a crash as an agonizing stab of pain blossomed in her lower back. She cried out and fell to the grass, her hands pressing to her lower back in a futile attempt to stop the pain.  
  
Vegeta took a step back to avoid the tools that cascaded out of the box, his eyebrows rising to his hairline as the woman dropped to her knees. He opened his mouth to say something - what, he wasn't sure - when all air left him in a gasp. Before his eyes a furry blue tail ripped through the fabric of Bulma's jean shorts, a tail identical to a saiyan's in all but color. She collapsed on her face, gasping as the pain apparently began to recede. Vegeta could not believe the sight before him. Without really thinking about it he knelt by her side and placed a hand on her back, between her shoulder blades.  
  
"Woman, what is happening to you?" he asked. There were tears in her eyes as she struggled to sit up, her tail lashing wildly about. The saiyan grunted in surprise as it wrapped around his upper arm. The fur was silky- soft, and he felt a brief pang of loss as he thought of his own tail, cut off several years before.  
  
"I think the regeneration fluid is having an effect on my system...it wasn't designed for humans, it was meant for saiyans..." Her eyes were large and a little scared as she sat up and looked at Vegeta. He couldn't hold back a chuckle.  
  
"I'd say it's definitely having an effect on you, woman." He smirked and stroked the soft blue fur on her tail. Bulma's eyes half closed and a sound similar to a purr escaped her throat. Then her eyes went wide and she let out a little shriek.  
  
"Don't tell me that I..." She twisted slightly, only to see her tail comfortably wrapped around Vegeta's bicep. "Oh no!"  
  
"What's wrong?" He really was enjoying this. It was the most amusing thing he'd seen in quite awhile. "It looks good on you," he added, raising his hand as if to stroke her tail again. She slapped his hand away and forcibly unwound her tail from his arm.  
  
"Knock it off! This isn't funny!" She stood up and released her tail, only to have it reach for Vegeta again. "You cut that out!" Bulma caught the offending new appendage and wrapped it around her waist before storming into the house.  
  
The saiyan prince watched her retreating figure thoughtfully. She, of course, didn't know that a saiyan's tail responded to his or her unspoken feelings. If her tail was reacting to him like that, then on some level, she probably was attracted to him. He smirked. This could prove to be really entertaining. With that in mind, Vegeta followed Bulma into the house. 


	4. Four Stars and Full Moons

A/N: I apologize for this being so late. Classes and a bad case of writer's block combined in a truly horrendous fashion. Thanks to all who reviewed...I'm new at this so I appreciate encouragement and constructive criticism.  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Not my property yadda yadda no profit yadda yadda don't sue me.  
  
Vegeta was dreaming.  
  
This was a rare occurrence for him, and even more unusually he was dreaming about his early past. Before Frieza had taken him from his home world and his people.  
  
He was very young, perhaps 3 or 4 at most. Dressed in the deep blue of the royal family of Vegeta-sei, he wandered through the palace grounds, tail curled behind him like a question mark. He gravely investigated the effects of his newly learned energy blasts on the boulders in the carefully arranged rock garden. A particularly loud explosion sent debris flying and covered the small prince in dust. A childish smile of delight crossed his face and he powered up an even bigger energy attack, not noticing the taller saiyan approaching from behind. Just as young Vegeta released the energy and blew away yet another boulder, he was unceremoniously yanked into the air by his father's tail. Upside down, dangling by one leg, his tail instinctively wrapped around his sire's for support.  
  
"Spachen! Kanda da-lamei chiisonn atch?" [Brat! What do you think you're doing?]  
  
Arms crossed, his face composed despite his ridiculous position, the prince replied calmly,  
  
"Skraanza." [Practicing.]  
  
The king rubbed the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger.  
  
"Ha-mo jix rham-se-kioke dou'al panna tiet. Osh liis?" [We have 10 training rooms in the palace alone. Why here?]  
  
"Xah bah eamu des!" Said the prince enthusiastically. "O'at'o mil." [I like it here. The rock flies.]  
  
King Vegeta frowned at the unrepentant toddler, who mimicked his father's expression back at him. With a sigh he righted the youngster and held him in one arm. Lifting off, he flew from the gardens to a quarry outside the palace grounds. There were boulders and rocks of all shapes and sizes here, many evidencing previous energy blasts.  
  
"Ki-lamai ash berro'at'o, quilis des. Xah kiokee des moral lame'ro mox." [If you want to blow up rocks, do it here. I trained here when I was your age.]  
  
"Uko kiokee des?" [Papa trained here?]  
  
"Nask 'Uko', spachen! Lamei paco 'Ukolten'." [Don't call me 'papa', brat! You call me 'father'.]  
  
"Uko kiokee des?" demanded the prince again. His father gave up and pointed to an enormous boulder with a huge chunk blown out of its side.  
  
"Xah biken moral-lamei'ro mox. Po'lamei ix oshai?" [I did that when I was your age. Can you do better?] Smirking a little he set the boy down and lifted off again. From below there was a childish growl, and then a blinding explosion. King Vegeta blinked the dust out of his eyes and stared in disbelief at the crater where the boulder had once been. His son folded his little arms over his chest and smirked up at him.  
  
"Xah badough oyamideen." [I will be the strongest.]  
  
Vegeta awoke with a start. He sat up, massaging his temples. It had been years since he'd heard or spoken his native tongue, though up until age 5 or 6 he'd spoken it almost exclusively. Now he didn't even think in saiyan anymore, but in galactic standard. Not that it mattered – he was the only saiyan now alive who even remembered the old language. Growling he threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. If he couldn't sleep, then he might as well train.  
  
As he floated down the stairs, a familiar, and yet unfamiliar, chi signature startled the prince. After a puzzled instant, he realized it was the woman that he was sensing. Her power level had risen exponentially, nearly to the peak of a normal human's potential. Of course, it was still pathetic by his standards, but for a weak human female, it was impressive. He hadn't seen her for more than a few minutes since she'd sprouted the tail a day or two ago...and the GR was still broken, he recalled. Vegeta cursed. The woman was still in her lab. He altered his course, intending to order her out of the lab and outside fixing his gravity room. He glided into the lab and silently approached her. She was asleep at her workbench, computer on in front of her and various equipment scattered about. Her blue tail curled and uncurled slowly behind her, like a sleeping feline. She looked somewhat different. Her normally flat hair was a bit spikier, though still brilliant blue, and there was more definition to the muscle he could see.  
  
All at once these minor appearance changes became the least of his concerns. As he stood by her he was startled by an intoxicating scent, which affected him, immediately, on some of the most primal of levels. His eyes widened as his body reacted, and he stared at the sleeping woman in disbelief. It was she. Her normal human scent had changed. While it still held the characteristic personal smell he had come to associate with her, an odd but not unpleasant mix of engine oil and lavender, it had taken on new aspects. More feral. Slightly more spicy. He leaned closer, entranced. His heart seemed to be pounding loudly in his ears, not unlike the moments just before oozaru transformation.  
  
'What am I doing?' he mentally brought himself up short. It took so much effort to step away from her that it seemed as if the gravity had suddenly increased 400x. Shaken (not that he'd admit it even to himself) Vegeta raised his eyes from the sleeping scientist to the computer screen.  
  
INITIAL GENETIC ANALYSIS: 25% SAIYAN  
  
What was this? He tried to ignore the scent and read further.  
  
EXPERIMENTAL REVERSAL 1: FAILURE  
  
EXPERIMENTAL REVERSAL 2: FAILURE  
  
12 HOUR GENETIC ANALYSIS: 50% SAIYAN  
  
So it continued as she had attempted to reverse the process begun when she'd fallen in the experimental regeneration tank. By 24 hours after her tail had sprouted, her DNA was 75% saiyan in makeup – more than Kakkarot's brat. The last analysis, two hours before the present time, after eight failed attempts at reversal, glared out of the screen at him.  
  
100% SAIYAN. HUMAN DNA NOT FOUND  
  
Vegeta stared at the screen, then at the woman. Several things became painfully clear. She had become entirely saiyan. The scent that was so intoxicating to him was the scent of a female saiyan. Dimly he could remember it from his early years...but that had been before he'd become a mature male. Of course it hadn't affected him back then. Vegeta found he was once again leaning closer to her. His breathing rate increased, and a dull ache blossomed in his lower back.  
  
He had been 7 when Vegeta-sei had been destroyed. Raaditz had been 5, and Nappa somewhat closer to adulthood at 17, though males tended not to reach full growth and development until 20 or 25.  
  
"It's almost like staring at the full moon," the big saiyan had once described to his prince. "But better, cause it lasts longer. I heard from my old man that if the attraction's strong enough, weird things can happen."  
  
"Weird things?" a younger Vegeta had mocked.  
  
"Like if your tail had been cut off..." both young men had grimaced at the distasteful idea, "...it'd grow back even if you were full grown."  
  
The saiyan prince snapped out of his reverie as the ache in his back became a sharp pinch. He reached behind him as cloth tore, and the sense of an appendage lost was abruptly replaced by the knowledge that his body was once again whole. His regrown tail wrapped comfortably around his place, and the normally unshakeable prince went somewhat pale.  
  
If the attraction's strong enough...  
  
No! He was not attracted to this loud mouthed, annoying, human born woman!  
  
...Your tail would grow back...  
  
His heart was pounding in his ears...  
  
Like staring at the moon...  
  
No way. No way! He was a warrior, cold and emotionless, he was...he was...  
  
His tail had wound itself around Bulma's waist. Vegeta made a strangled noise and disengaged it, breaking away. What had been entertaining when her tail had been wrapping around him was nowhere near as funny as when his tail was behaving the same way towards her. The saiyan prince retreated from the lab...then up the stairs...then out of the house. Still breathing hard, he took to the sky, blasting away from Capsule Corporation as fast as he could go, his mind in turmoil.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bulma awoke with a stiff neck. Came from sleeping bent over on a lab bench. Grumpily she stood up and stretched, her tail coiling and uncoiling once or twice before settling around her waist. She stumbled up to the kitchen and started the coffee before devouring a saiyan-sized breakfast.  
  
"What do I do now?" she murmured into her coffee cup 15 minutes later. Every attempt at reversing the process had failed, and by the last test she was no longer human at all. Not human. Saiyan. She shivered and drew her knees up to her chest. She didn't want this. She didn't want to be a saiyan! Goku excepted, full-blooded saiyans were...violent...dangerous...how long before she became as ruthless as her houseguest?  
  
Speaking of which, where was he? Normally he'd be demanding breakfast at about this time. Absently she reached out and snagged the coffee pot with her tail, pouring another cup. Bulma blinked and then groaned. Damn it, she was starting to get comfortable with the tail already!  
  
This was not happening. She would not stand for this. Bulma's eyes hardened. She slugged back the coffee and rose from the table. Up the stairs she marched and into her room. With a determined air she began to pack, ending up with a case of capsules and one small but very important item: the dragon radar.  
  
If science couldn't change her back, then maybe magic would.  
  
Bulma looked in the mirror and couldn't help but smile a little. She still looked much as she did when she'd set out to find the dragonballs the very first time. Well, except for the tail, of course. And the well defined lean muscles. And the eyes...she let out a shriek of outrage. Her eyes had changed! Now they were as dark a black as Goku's or Vegeta's! The contrast with her blue hair and tail was actually quite striking, but it still pissed her off. Without thinking she flung her hand forward. A burst of light flew from her palm, and the mirror exploded. Bulma stared openmouthed at the wreckage.  
  
"Ohhhh.... I've got to hurry!" she groaned. Adding the ability to throw energy blasts to someone with her temper was a really, really bad idea. She hurried outside and tossed a capsule. "Hoi!"  
  
Poi!  
  
A sturdy motorbike appeared in a puff of smoke. She climbed on and revved up the engine.  
  
"At least I know where one of the damn things is," Bulma muttered, and roared off toward Goku's home in the mountains, and the 4-star dragonball. 


	5. Bulma Solos

Disclaimer: Neither own it nor make profit off it, okay?  
  
As Bulma approached the Son's house she began to feel a bit nervous. How were they going to react to her? It wasn't like she could hide her changes from them. Pulling up in front of the little house, she noted that the air car Chi-chi generally drove was not present. Good, that meant the dark haired woman wasn't home. She was a good friend, but her voice had been a bit on the piercing side before Bulma had acquired saiyan hearing.  
  
"Goku? Gohan?" she climbed off the bike, her tail twitching nervously. "Anyone here?" There was no reply. Checking her dragon radar, it confirmed that one of the dragonballs was indeed in the house. She was debating climbing in a window to get it when a voice from behind startled her.  
  
"Bulma?" Goku had emerged from the forest dragging an enormous fish behind him. Bulma turned at his call, but hesitated at the shocked look on his face, uncertain of what to say. The tableau was quite similar to their first meeting years before...only this time Bulma was the one with the tail. "What happened?" The saiyan man blurted finally. "You've – you're – you've got..." he trailed off, approaching with a wide eyed look of disbelief.  
  
"A tail, I know," Bulma sighed. They sat down on the grass together and the blue haired woman slowly explained everything. Goku accepted it all without question, his normally cheerful face quite serious. When she'd finished and was staring at the ground, he finally spoke.  
  
"Bulma...are you...you know, okay?" Her gaze snapped up to meet his earnest one, and a surge of emotion nearly overwhelmed her. He understood. Of course he understood – he'd spent all his life thinking he was a human until Raaditz had destroyed that illusion. She blinked back a few tears and allowed her old friend to embrace her in a comforting bear hug. Her tail, she noticed, did not wrap around him like it did around Vegeta, but merely tapped his back and shoulders playfully.  
  
"So I bet you want the dragon ball," Goku said a few moments later. She nodded, wondering how he could switch from being so damn naive to being so intuitive. "No problem, I'm sure Grandpa Gohan wouldn't mind helping out a friend of mine." He retrieved it from his son's room without further ado. Bulma accepted the four star ball gratefully, tucking it securely into her belt pouch.  
  
"Thanks Goku, you're a life saver." He scratched his head and laughed.  
  
"So do you want me to come with you? It could be tough to get all seven." She frowned, considering the offer, then shook her head.  
  
"No, I can handle it."  
  
"If you're sure..." he trailed off dubiously.  
  
"Hey, I can handle this!" Bulma patted his face and laughed. "And I'll be back to my old self in no time. Take care, Goku!"  
  
"Bye, Bulma!" She hopped back onto her bike and roared off. Thank Kami he hadn't tried to interfere. Bulma clicked on her radar. There were two dragonballs in the same location, not very far away at all. What luck! She accelerated the motorbike. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The farmer who'd found the one star and six star dragonballs had been using them as bookends on the fireplace mantle. A generous financial donation persuaded him to part with them with very little trouble. Bulma set up camp for the night with three dragonballs in her possession. Camp, of course, was a relative term; she did like her comforts. The capsule house provided hot food, a shower, and a soft bed all in one convenient package.  
  
She enjoyed a comfortable night and awoke refreshed and ready for another day of dragonball hunting. It was a good thing she was wishing herself human – her saiyan appetite cut quite a swath through her food supplies. The nearest dragonball was quite a distance away and she spent several long hours speeding through remoter and remoter areas on the motorbike. Thank goodness this thing ran on a solar battery developed by her truly!  
  
It was around noon when Bulma stopped for a quick break. She parked the bike and stretched out her stiff muscles. The woman stepped behind a large clump of bushes to attend to nature's call. So what if there was no one around for miles...modesty was modesty! Unfortunately, however, she hadn't a chance to do anything before an enormous shadow fell over her. She started to turn and then let out a shriek as a huge clawed talon closed around her.  
  
"Well, well, well," said a deep raspy voice. Bulma stared up in fury and terror at the giant pterodactyl holding her immobile. "Fancy meeting you here."  
  
"Not you again!" groaned the woman. It was the same giant beast that Goku had rescued her from early in their first dragonball hunt. Its missing eye and numerous scars bespoke the job that the young saiyan had done on it.  
  
"No monkey boy to save you this time, sweetie," chuckled the dactyl. "Let's hope it was worth the wait."  
  
"LET ME GO!!!"  
  
Ignoring her it took to the air. Within a few strokes of its huge wings it was high above the valley. Bulma continued to struggle, getting more and more furious with each passing moment. This was not happening. She was not going to end up a meal for this overgrown chicken-lizard. Her struggles became more intense, and as the dactyl tightened its grip one edge of its talon just barely nicked her tail. The pain was instantaneous and immense.  
  
Bulma let out a scream of pain and fury. Raw power exploded from her every pore as her fury channeled into energy, searing the pterodactyl's claw. It gave an astonished and quite agonized squawk and released her. She began to fall head over heels, but was far too enraged to notice. The power roared through her at a screaming pitch, and as she fell she raised her hands above her head. A beam of pure white light burst from her palms, hitting the floundering dinosaur head on. Bulma let out a savage and entirely unthinking cry of triumph as her attacker was incinerated on contact.  
  
She continued to fall down and down, and as some of the fury faded panic crept into its place. There was no one to catch her this time, no one to save her. She'd escaped the dactyl only to die on impact with the ground. Yet even in the face of this panic, her scientifically trained mind did not stop to work. She had just incinerated an enormous pterodactyl. If she had the energy for that, then surely she had enough chi to fly.  
  
Piccolo had long ago expressed his belief that the only way to teach someone to fly was to throw them off a cliff. That was, after all, how he'd taught young Gohan. In Bulma's case it proved equally true. Focusing all her will power and energy, Bulma began to slow her fall. Her aura flared once, then again, the burst into steady being around her as she stopped her fall entirely and hovered in the air.  
  
"I...did it..." she murmured in astonishment. A brilliant smile lit up her face, and her tail lashed in response to her delight. Then her eyes went blank and her aura faded out. Limply, she began to fall again. While she had a great deal of power, she had in her inexperience expended nearly all of it in that first explosion that freed her of the dactyl's talons. Unconscious, she tumbled towards the river below. It was nowhere near the fall it would have been originally, but from the height she was at, hitting the water would still be equivalent to hitting a brick wall...  
  
A/N: Not only a chapter with no Vegeta, but a cliff hanger as well? I know, I know...stick with me, the prince will be back in the next chapter. Once again, a big thank you to all who reviewed. I appreciate it! 


	6. Interventions

Disclaimer: If you read all my other chapters, you'll know I don't own any of this except the creative spin I put on it.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
How could this have happened to him?  
  
Vegeta lay face down on a rock outcropping on a now severely charred tiny island, listening to the crashing of the surf. His tail was draped along his back, the tip dangling over one shoulder and just slightly brushing his cheekbone. Emotions warred within him, one foreign and one familiar. Very familiar was the burning rage, but it was strangely defused by the strange warm feeling of relief and near joy at having his tail back. Yet another reminder of the vile weakness that had crept unnoticed into his being. He should have been angry enough to incinerate this pathetic mud ball of a planet right now. But he wasn't.  
  
"What have you done to me, woman?" he hissed between his teeth. When had it started? When she refused to back down from him despite his ability to destroy her with hardly a breath? When she, a pathetic human with practically nonexistent chi argued with him while the human warriors of the planet cowered at the sight of him? When she invited him to stay with her...provided the GR...gave him something like a home...cared for his wounds...gave a damn if he lived or died... All unknowing she had wormed her way past his defenses, into the heart he'd thought long dead.  
  
"Damn woman!" he all but screamed, power flaring around him in a dazzling burst of radiance. It faded fast – he'd damn near killed himself with today's training session.  
  
It had been over the moment he saved her fool neck from drowning in the regen tank. He'd lost a war he hadn't even known he'd been fighting the instant he saved her life. Why? Because even if she'd died her parents wouldn't have thrown him out...her father would have continued fixing the GR. He had no reason to save her except that HE DIDN'T WANT HER TO DIE! And then on top of saving her, he'd cared for her as well – doubly damned by his own actions.  
  
Her becoming saiyan had only hastened his inevitable realization of what was going on. Had he truly not...felt...for her, her scent would never have affected him so powerfully. His tail would not have grown back. Nor would it have proclaimed his desire for all to see by wrapping around her. Felt. Care. He cared for her. Not just lusted, that he could have dealt with, but he outright lov-!  
  
Another explosion of power. He hadn't yet sunk so low he'd use that term in relation to himself. What the hell kind of a saiyan had he become?  
  
"Finally," replied a dry voice he hadn't heard in twenty years, "A true saiyan."  
  
Vegeta lifted his head so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. His eyes widened in stunned disbelief at the misty figure before him. It could not be.  
  
"Father?!"  
  
"Get up off the ground, brat," snorted the phantom of King Vegeta. "You're a prince, not a third class fool."  
  
Nearly speechless with shock, the Prince rose to his feet. He could not stop staring at the man who had died fighting Frieza when he was only seven years old. Oh yes, he'd known about his father's death long before he learned of the destruction of Vegeta-sei...Dodoria and Zarbon had gloated to him about it within an hour of it happening.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. "You're dead!"  
  
"That much is obvious," growled his father. "I received special dispensation from King Yemma." The older saiyan smirked. "Royalty has some advantages, even in the other dimension." Vegeta snarled wordlessly.  
  
"Why now? Have you come to reprimand your pathetic brat for his failures? I'll blast you straight back to the other dimension before I..."  
  
"No patience at all. Just like your mother." The King shook his head in amusement. Vegeta was taken aback by the mention of the female who had died bearing him. He had seen her image as a child – enough to know that his stature and hair color were due to her genetic influence – but rarely had his sire spoken of his lost mate. "In point of fact," continued the ghost, "it was she who argued Yemma into submission over this visitation. But since you would not recognize her as readily, I came in her stead to speak with you."  
  
"Get to the point. Why are you here? Why did she want you to speak with me?"  
  
"Because a woman finds it nearly impossible to interfere when her brat falls in love."  
  
"I do not 'love' the woman!" the prince roared, tail lashing. "Love is a weakling emotion – for humans and brain-damaged idiots like Kakkarot!"  
  
"Still you don't understand," growled his father. "Have you forgotten everything I taught you? The saiyan race is a warrior race, born and bred, passionate in ALL that we do and in two things especially – love and war." Another snort. "In many ways the two are often connected...but you already know that, don't you brat? The blue-haired wench has quite a mouth on her."  
  
Vegeta was literally struck dumb with shock. He had in fact forgotten, through all the beatings, all the pain and rage, all the years under Frieza's thumb, that very basic principle of saiyan existence. Forgotten, or willfully not remembered, since it had no place in the often tortuous reality he lived.  
  
"Why do you think that the third-class son of Bardock achieved super saiyan before you? Rage alone cannot fuel the transition...if it did, you would have ascended years ago. Your abuse under Frieza is interfering with your birthright as the strongest of all saiyans. Let your instincts as a saiyan guide you – they will not lead you astray." The King looked like he might have said something more, but he abruptly faded from sight.  
  
Vegeta stared at the spot where the phantom had been for a long time, his mind churning and his tail twitching.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In the next dimension –  
  
"Happy now, wench?"  
  
"You couldn't be more trite? 'Let your instincts guide you'?!"  
  
"I'm trained for battle, not heart-to-heart talks with lovesick brats!"  
  
"You were just as 'lovesick' when you courted ME."  
  
"That is not the point! And if you don't like how I did it, go talk to him yourself."  
  
"I'm busy giving the object of our son's affections a few nudges in the right direction."  
  
"Damn telepathic females... Why do we need to get involved? If it is meant to be, it will happen."  
  
"Why? Because even destiny can use a little help sometimes..."  
  
  
  
A/N: Well? Surprised? I was! Here I was writing the chapter and all of a sudden King Vegeta forces his way into the picture. Oh well. Anyway, another big thank you to all who reviewed. Next chapter: Finally, we find out what happened to Bulma! 


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